LANSING, Mich. — Michigan's academic standards in math
earned an A-, while its English standards received a D in a report issued this
week by the Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based education think tank,
according to the Lansing State Journal.

The report compares current academic standards in each state
with the newly developed "Common Core" national standards that states are being
encouraged to adopt. Michigan already has signed on to the Common Core and is
in the process of aligning its own math and English standards to meet the
national set, the Journal reported.

Michigan requirements on what kindergarten through
twelfth-grade students should know and be able to do in mathematics earned a
grade of A- from Fordham, while English standards received a D for lack of
clarity, specificity and academic rigor, the Journal reported. The Common Core
standards themselves received a B+ in English and an A in math from Fordham.

"Both are strong curriculums," Jan Ellis of the
Michigan Department of Education told the Journal regarding Michigan's math and
English programs. "The study took issue with the specificity of our
standards."

The Common Core standards were organized and developed by the
National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Michigan teachers will begin training in the Common Core
standards this fall, a move that, along with adopting national standards, would
improve its English grade in the Fordham study to a B+, Ellis told the Journal.
Classroom instruction according to the national standards begins in 2012, and assessment
tests on the new set begin in 2014.